Newsletter N° 14/15 (Sweden)WISE-Paris has researched the quantity of plutonium fabricated into MOX fuel and loaded into French light water reactors. In total 25.7 tons of plutonium were fabricated into 1,104 MOX assemblies and loaded into Electricité de France (EDF) reactors as of June 1999. Currently 17 reactors (only 900 MW units) are loaded with a maximum of 30 % of MOX in the core. In parallel the stockpile of French plutonium continues to increase year after year and has reached 38.7 tons at the end of 1997. At the same time an additional 33.6 tons of foreign plutonium was stored in France. The total quantity of non irradiated plutonium on the shelves in France increased from 72.3 tons, as declared by the French government to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to around 80 tons at the end of 1998. As of the end of June 1999, the official figure for 1998 had still not been published.
QUANTITIES OF PLUTONIUM FABRICATED INTO FRENCH MOX FUEL
(in numbers of fuel assemblies and in metric tons)
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Number of assemblies | Plutonium content (tons) |
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| Year | Per year | Cumulated | Per year | Cumulated |
| 1982* | 36 | 36 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| 1987 | 16 | 52 | 0.3 | 1.1 |
| 1988 | 32 | 84 | 0.7 | 1.7 |
| 1989 | 48 | 132 | 1.0 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | 56 | 188 | 1.2 | 4.0 |
| 1991 | 64 | 252 | 1.4 | 5.4 |
| 1992 | 64 | 316 | 1.4 | 6.8 |
| 1993 | 56 | 372 | 1.3 | 8.1 |
| 1994 | 88 | 460 | 2.0 | 10.1 |
| 1995 | 56 | 516 | 1.3 | 11.4 |
| 1995** | 16 | 532 | 0.4 | 11.8 |
| 1996 | 72 | 604 | 1.8 | 13.5 |
| 1997 | 176 | 780 | 4.3 | 17.8 |
| 1998 | 228 | 1,008 | 5.6 | 23.4 |
| 1999 (june) | 96 | 1,104 | 2.3 | 25.7 |
| Sources: COGEMA, EDF, WISE-Paris |
© WISE-Paris
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